The school year came and went, and students are tired of everything. Fortunately, there were some school events and extracurricular activities to make the year enjoyable.

Being a freshman in 2023 is certainly interesting. Although, Wauconda High School’s events for the students are by far the most exciting. The Homecoming and Spring Fling dances are the most notable for the freshman, as they are the only dances that we could go to. The energy I felt during the events was very positive. It was just friends and couples dancing, having a good time, and making unforgettable memories. I personally had only attended a few sports games, but the one football game I did go to was definitely exciting. It was the perfect opportunity to hang out with friends while enjoying a nice game to watch. I didn’t do much outside of the required classes I needed, but a few of my friends in band said that was the most exciting thing out of the whole year. Being able to step out of doing middle school band requirements and doing completely new stuff like marching band was so much better. 

Unfortunately, a lot of us were not prepared enough for high school. The amount of homework felt unnecessary with how much information we had to cram into our heads. The tests mattered more than they did in middle school. In middle school, it was easy to get away with not trying or for falling behind a little, but everything started to matter in freshman year. Most, if not all, freshmen got excused from a ton of things due to COVID-19 in middle school. Grades didn’t matter in 6th-7th grade because almost everyone passed. I know in my middle school, some 8th-grade teachers practically gave up if it wasn’t their first year teaching. Now we are back to normal but in a completely different environment. The stress that students could have with the normal amount of schoolwork (that has more weight on their life than it ever had before) mixed with after-school activities can be overwhelming. 

Overall, the 2022-2023 school year wasn’t all that horrible, just stressful after the 2020-2021 events. Getting back to normal was hard, but manageable with friends around me, and I do hope it was the same for everyone else. If it wasn’t, talk to your counselor or a trusted adult that could help make next year easier.